Friday, October 22, 2010

"Here in the presence of Washington and Lincoln, one the eighteenth century father and the other the nineteenth century preserver of our nation, we honor those twentieth century Americans who took up the struggle during the second World War and made the sacrifices to perpetuate the gift our forefathers entrusted to us: a nation conceived in liberty and justice."

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

At the end of last week's Very Special Episode of Glee﻿, Kurt went to church wearing this fabulous hat:

In between my Simon and Garfunkel tears, ﻿I couldn't help but admire his fancy church-lady hat. When I was little, and then slightly older, and then still older, I used to love to try on the fancy hats at JCPenney.

Tucked away with the wallets and purses, the hats hung on a wall of soft-covered hooks, a rainbow of felt and lace. My eyes and my hands gravitated toward the red, hot pink, or purple chapeaus with flowers, beading, or rhinestones.

I love that in certain circles--particularly the African-American Community--there existed, and still exists, a tradition of wearing a hat to church. Selecting the perfect match for one's dress, shoes, and bag.

Jeans and a sweater are enough for me 90% of the time, but one day I shall have a fancy hat and a place to wear it.

Monday, October 11, 2010

This past weekend was simply gorgeous with blue skies, a bright sun, and a cooling breeze. My weekend activities consisted of: eyebrow threading, reading, thrifting, sewing, watching (tv), cleaning, and relaxing. To top it off I went here...

to see this...﻿

Ford's Theatre re-opened in February after a grand restoration and this was my first trip to the hist﻿oric site. Having never been in the theatre before the remodel I'm not sure how the current incarnation compares, except to say that it is currently beautiful and bright. The theatre is small but grand, and the stage dominates, as it should.

And in case you couldn't read the banner above, I was there to see Sabrina Fair! Not surprisingly, I adore the Audrey Hepburn original, and like the 1995 remake alright as well, so as soon as I saw an ad for the stage version, I snatched up a ticket.

This review from the Washington Post pretty much says what I would say, only better, of course. It was interesting to see the racial element added, though it would have been more powerful had they not stuck so strictly to the original text. However, it really was a wonderful play, very funny and witty, well-acted, and the stages and costumes were beautiful. It just put me in a great mood.

"So I invested in something I had complete confidence in: General Motors."

-Fairchild

(Not sure this was supposed to get the laugh it did, but it was great.)

Sunday, October 10, 2010

Friday morning I stepped out of my apartment building and in to a crisp fall morning. Glancing briefly down at my Rainbow sandals, I thought about backtracking to change into some warmer shoes. But since Rainbow weather is quickly coming to an end, I kept moving forward. Not five seconds later -- whop -- my flip flop strap broke.

These shoes are five years old, perfectly broken in and perfectly molded to my foot. Now, because they are so worn, the tread is gone and the shoe itself is so smooth my foot doesn't always stay in it whilst I walk.

I shouldn't be surprised that the portion of the strap that started fraying three summers ago should finally give out. Though I am surprised that it broke just outside of my apartment building and not somewhere along my commute, like on the metro escalator or four blocks into my eight block walk to the metro or four blocks into my eight block walk to the office.

They were good shoes. They've been with me since the summer of junior year, purchased to carry me across Europe. Which they did, from England to Germany to Austria to Spain to France to Italy...

...back to Chapel Hill, including graduation...

...and to everywhere I've been since.

On hot days, on cool days, in rain, in sand, in the Red Clay Mud Incident of '06, they were there. Au revoir brown rainbows, skinny strap, it has been a good run. (Well, technically, a good, long, walk.)

Sunday, October 03, 2010

After what feels like months of nothing to do, October is shaping up to be just the opposite.

My weekend kicked off Friday night with dinner, froyo, and a movie with some friends. After an amazing meal at Oyamel and a quick trip for frozen yogurt, we saw "Never Let Me Go." The three of us read the book for our book club a year ago and have been looking forward to the film adaptation ever since; it didn't disappoint.

Saturday started early, at least for me on a Saturday, with a trip to the Crafty Bastards craft fair in Adams Morgan with a friend. It's been two years since I was able to attend the fair, but it was just as good as I remembered. Though significantly larger and more crowded, too.

It was an absolutely beautiful fall day and to be surrounded by homemade goods and in the company of a friend made it even better. I only bought a few things, as seen below. In addition to the free bag and Etsy sticker, I purchased a lunch bag, a ring, a print, and two buttons.

The lunch bag has the Eiffel Tower on it with different facts about the various levels. The ring is made with part of a security envelope. (The vendor makes everything using the various patterns that are seen in envelopes; I never knew the variety that they come in.) The buttons have the names of two authors on them: Zadie Smith and Dorothy Parker. And the print is just of row houses, because even though I live in a boring apartment building now, I used to live in a row house and miss its character.

One particular highlight of the fair, though I'm still not entirely sure how I feel about it, were the art students drawing free caricatures or portraits. I have no interest in a caricature so my friend and I had our portraits done. While my nose is my least favorite feature in real life due to its pointiness, I don't think it's nearly as pointy as the artist made it out to be. However, as my friend said, the rest of the portrait does "have a certain Bonnie-ness" to it. Now to just figure out what to do with a portrait of myself that doesn't scream conceited.

After the fair I came home and crashed. A two-hour nap, dinner, mindless tv, terrible headache, and I was in bed before Saturday Night Live.

Sunday I made pancakes and watched Tivoed SNL before taking another nap, even though I was supposed to be cleaning. Then I took a walk to Friendship Heights to see my second movie of the weekend, "The Social Network."

I've been looking forward to this movie since the trailer came out over the summer and it too, did not disappoint. The intriguing even if not entirely true back story. Aaron Sorkin's dialogue. (Potential favorite line: "Lawyer up, asshole.") The cute actor that just so happened to be in "Never Let Me Go," too. Very good and highly recommended.

Now it's late and I"m watching the end of the Giants game. All the players on both teams have on pink gloves, pink sweat bands, pink on their hats, pink chin guards, pink towels, and pink ribbons for breast cancer awareness month. It's really beautiful.